By TIM McKEOUGH

March 5, 2014

As the executive director of Edible Schoolyard NYC, it is Kate Brashares’s job to help children learn how to grow and prepare their own food.

“We’re showing kids that eating more fresh fruits and vegetables is not only good for you, but tastes good, too,” said Ms. Brashares, 39, whose organization has a teaching garden at P.S. 7 in East Harlem and finished building its first dedicated kitchen classroom at P.S. 216 in Brooklyn last fall.

To put it succinctly, she said, “We’re teaching kids to fall in love with food.”

And presentation is a crucial part of that process, especially when it comes to salad, which isn’t always an easy sell to children.

“It’s not just how it tastes,” she said, “but how it looks and smells.” Like anyone else, she added, children want to eat something that looks attractive.

Besides, she said, “When you’re using beautiful, fresh ingredients, you want to be able to showcase them in a beautiful way” no matter what age the audience is.

At Sur La Table on West 57th Street, she offered the Blanc Oval Swoop bowls as an example. “I like the flow of the lip,” she said, examining the undulating organic form. “They’re sculptural, but really simple,” which is good, she said, because the food should be the center of attention.

One of the bowls could be paired with the store’s bamboo tongs, she suggested: “We use these with the kids, and they’re great for delicate leaves.”

For something with more decorative detail, she picked out an Atom Art porcelain serving bowl at Anthropologie, in Rockefeller Center. A white dish with a blue floral pattern and yellow lip, it was “so summery and Mediterranean-looking,” she said, that it would brighten up any table. And while it was smaller than most serving bowls, it would be “nice for a big individual salad.”

Online, she liked the handmade rock maple bowls from Herriott Grace. “That’s my dream salad bowl,” she said. “Each one is different. It’s like a little work of art.”

She admired a pair of wooden salad servers by Jonathan’s Spoons from Heath Ceramics for a similar reason. “I just love the rustic feel,” she said.

She recommended pairing them with the Heath shallow salad bowl: “It’s high design, but also simple and straightforward, with a beautiful texture.”

And its low, gently curved sides, she said, might even inspire some culinary creativity. “If you’re making a salad that has interesting ingredients, you could arrange it in a different way — not all tossed together.” TIM McKEOUGH